To make the rice ball, in general, a predetermined amount of rice is held and compacted by hands to shape it into a triangular prism, a sphere, etc. However, there are the problems that weighing rice sensuously and fixing the shape are unexpectedly difficult and that the rice adheres to hands, which is troublesome.
In view of the problems, the inventor of this invention suggested, in the patent application Ser. No. 2004-117704, a rice-ball making implement (b) for making a rice ball, as shown in FIGS. 78 and 80, in which two containers (a), (a) with the opened tops are openably/closeably connected to each other, and the two containers (a), (a) are structured to show a substantially axisymmetric arrangement in the opened-up state. To explain the rice-ball making implement (b) more specifically, each of the containers (a), (a) comprises a base element (c) and a standing wall (d) with a predetermined height provided to protrude from an outer periphery of one side of the base element (c) so that the base element (c) and the standing wall (d) may form a containing part (f) for putting the foodstuff like the rice (e). Edge parts of facing standing wall parts (g), (g) of the right and left containers (a), (a) are connected to each other by a bend part (h). When the implement is bent at the bend part (h) in a manner of closing the two containers (a), (a), opening ends (a1), (a1) of the containers (a), (a) substantially meet, as shown in FIG. 81.
According to the rice-ball making implement, the foodstuff like the rice is placed in the two containers (a), (a) and the implement is bent at the bend part (h) in a manner of closing the two containers (a), (a). Thus, there is an advantage that the rice ball with an intended shape can be made hygienically without touching the foodstuff directly by hand.
To make the rice ball using the rice-ball making implement, the two containers (a), (a) are set to be in an opened-up state, a film-like object 0) is spread thereon, and the film-like object (j) is pressed into the containing parts (f) to form containing recesses (k), (k), as shown in FIG. 79. Then, as shown in FIG. 79, for example, a filling (n) is placed on bottom faces (m), (m) of the containing recesses (k), (k), and as shown in FIG. 80, the rice (e) is placed in the containing recesses (k), (k) in a manner that the upper face (p) of the rice (e) is heaped up to be slightly higher than an upper edge (q) of the standing wall (d). The reason why the upper surface (p) is made to be slightly higher is that the heaped-up part generates a pressurization force when the two containers (a), (a) are bent at the bend part (h), as shown in FIG. 81, and the rice ball which is properly compacted can be made by making the opening ends (a1), (a1) of the two containers (a), (a) substantially meet, as shown in FIG. 82.
However, there are problems in the conventional implement as mentioned below. Namely, since the upper surfaces (p), (p) of the rice (e) is made to be higher than the upper edge (q) of the standing wall when the rice (e) is placed in the two containers (a), (a), in the initial stage of bending the containers (a), (a) at the bend part (h), base-end-side parts (e 1), (e 1) (the part on the side of the bend part (h)) of the rice (e) contained in the containers (a), (a) come into contact with each other first, as shown in FIG. 83. In this state, the facing standing walls (d), (d) of the containers (a), (a) are open widely. After that, the containers (a), (a) are bent further at the bend part (h), however, as they are bent, the contained rice (e), (e) are gradually pressed by the bent containers (a), (a) from the facing side. As the rice is thus pressed, the facing standing walls (d), (d) of the containers (a), (a) come closer to each other and the rice is compacted gradually, when the rice (e) is apt to come out of a joint part (s) (FIGS. 81 and 83) of the facing standing walls (d), (d). It is troublesome to compacting the entire rice ball while carefully pressing the coming-out rice into the containers with fingers.
Since the height of the heap of the rice has to be estimated visually, there is a problem that the rice ball becomes soft when the heap is low and the rice cannot be sufficiently compacted. When the heap is high, since the amount of rice coming out of the joint part (s) of the standing walls (d), (d) becomes large when the containers (a), (a) are bent, it is difficult to press the coming-out rice into the container and is difficult to make the rice ball. In addition, the rice, which cannot be pressed into protrudes from a side face (u) of the rice ball (t), as shown by a code (t1) in FIG. 84, and the appearance of the rice ball is spoiled.
In the paragraph 0083 of the specification of the above-mentioned patent application, the rice-ball making implement as shown in FIGS. 85 and 86 is described, in which a size of the container (a2) is made to be slightly larger than that of the other container (a1) and a height of the standing wall (d) of the container (a2) is made to be slightly larger than that of the container (a1) so that a front side part (d1) of the standing wall (d) comprising the container (a1) may fit into the containing part (f) of the container (a2). According to this rice-ball making implement, since a front side part (d1) of the standing wall (d) of the container (a1) enters into the containing recess (k) of the other container (a2) while the rice existing in an upper part (the higher part of the standing wall (d)) of the standing wall of the container (a2) generates the pressurization force when the implement is bent at the bend part (h) in a manner of closing the container (a1), (a2) having the rice inside, as shown in FIG. 86, the compaction of the rice ball may be obtained by this entering action. However, since the entire standing walls (d), (d) comprising the containers (a1), (a2) protrude to the even height, when the containers (a1), (a2) containing the rice (e) to the same level as the upper edges of the standing walls are bent at the bend part (h) in a manner of closing them, as shown in FIG. 87, in the initial stage of bending, the base-side parts (e1), (e1) (the parts on the side of the bend part (h)) of the upper faces (p), (p) of the rice (e) come into contact with each other first, similarly to the above-mentioned case, as shown in FIG. 88. In this state, the facing standing walls (d), (d) of the containers (a), (a) are open widely. Therefore, similarly to the above-mentioned case, it is troublesome to compacting the entire rice ball carefully so that the rice may not come out of the joint part (s) of the facing standing walls. Even when the rice ball is compacted carefully like this, it is unavoidable that the rice comes out of the joint part (s), whereby it is difficult to make the rice ball having a good appearance.
An implement (w) for rolling rice with a layer sheet is suggested in the patent publication No. 64-49093, in which edges of rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) having a half-circular shape in cross section are connected by a hinge (u), and an insertion plate (v) for inserting one end of a layer sheet is mounted on a front end of the rolling cylinder part (t1), as shown in FIG. 89.
To form a sushi-roll by using the implement (w) for rolling rice with the layer sheet, the layer sheet (i) is laid along the inside of the rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) in its opened-up state, as shown in FIG. 89, one end of the layer sheet (i) is inserted into the insertion plate (v), vinegared rice (x) is placed in the rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) in its opened-up state, and a favorite filling (y) is placed in a center part of the other rolling cylinder part (t2). Then, as shown in FIG. 90, the rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) containing the vinegared rice (x) and the filling (y) are rolled up to make the sushi-roll. However, since both side ends (z), (z) of the rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) are open, a binding force is difficult to obtain when the rolling cylinder parts (t1), (t2) are rolled up and the vinegared rice (x) is compacted, which causes the problem of insufficient compacting. When the vinegared rice (x) is strongly compacted by force, it comes out of the open ends of the cylindrical part formed by the rolling, and there arises a problem that the sushi-roll is deformed wherefore the sushi-roll with good appearance cannot be made. Patent Document 1: Patent Publication No. 64-49093 (Pages 3 to 5, FIGS. 3 and 6)